96 
The Farming of Cheshire. 
of China are with eating our far-famed Cheshire cheese, both of which en- 
joyments I hope will become universal ere long. I would in the first in- 
stance put upon the lands I intend for my permanent mowing about 30 
cwt. to the acre, if old mowing land, or 2 tons if pasture land ; and after 
mowing it for four or five years, if I found the grass begin to get shorter, I 
would repeat the dose by adding another ton to the acre, and so on every 
four or five years, by which means the hay crop would no doubt become 
not only very abundant, but of very superior quality, and the value of the 
green crops alone would, I contend, more than provide for this outlay ; in 
addition to which the farmer would get a double crop of corn and straw 
from the tillage land, and always have it in a condition to produce him a 
good crop of any thing he chose to ask it. I know of an instance where 
bones were put upon the wheat root of a very hard tilled field of poor clay 
land after the rate of only 15 cwt. to the acre, and the result was that it 
considerably improved the crop of wheat, as well as the clover which fol- 
lowed it, and tended materially to produce a better sort of natural grasses 
afterwards, than would have otherwise appeared ; the field has never had 
any kind of manure since, and has been in pasture now eight years, and 
produces twice the quantity of herbage, and that of a very superior qua- 
lity to any of the adjoining fields, which have rested much longer, and 
consequently ought to be in better turf. I have paid nearly 10,000/. for 
this manure, and therefore must naturally feel no little interest in the 
subject, and I have much satisfaction in saying that the result has in every 
instance been most satisfactory both to my employers, myself, and the 
tenants. 
" I have known many a poor honest, hit half broken-hearted man, raised from 
poverty to comparative independence, and many a sinking family saved from 
inevitable ruin by the help of this wonderful manure. Unquestionably, bones 
act in a very peculiar manner upon our Cheshire clay soils, when applied 
to the grass lands, which no doubt arises from the circumstance of our soil 
containing either less of that matter which counteracts their effects, or 
possessing in an extraordinary degree those qualities which are favourable, 
if not essential to their operation. When the landlord purchases the 
bones, I think he ought to receive 7t per cent, upon his outlay, which I 
consider would amply remunerate him for both principal and interest, and 
answer the purpose of the tenant exceedingly well ; but of course in this 
case it is only fair that a proper agreement should be (and, I presume, ge- 
nerally is) entered into, reserving the boned land both from the scythe and 
plough ; but when bone manure is applied for permanent mowing, clover 
or arable purposes, it should of course be at the tenant's expense, and I 
much question if it is not for his interest, where he possesses sufficient 
capital and can get a lease, to do it himself in preference to paying the 
interest even in the former case." 
Cottage Allotments for Spade Husbandry. 
The following communication is from the gentleman whose 
opinions on bone-manure are last quoted : — " 1 know of nothing 
better calculated to benefit our peasantry than allotting to each 
labourer a certain portion of land for sj)ade husbandry, at a 
reasonable price. Some laudable exam])les have been set by 
excellent individuals in different parts of the kingdom, which are 
now beginning, I hope, to be pretty generally followed ; but it 
has often been a matter of surprise to me, that a plan, so well calcu- 
lated to ameliorate the condition of our poor fellow-creatures — so 
